ATTENTION:
Government Center station on Green & Blue Lines closed until spring 2016!

System

Boston is
the capital of Massachusetts; with 620,000 inhabitants in the city proper,
it is the centre of a large metropolitan area with some 4 million inhabitants.

The Boston
Subway network (the 'T') consists of three colour-coded full metro lines
(red, orange and blue), plus a light rail line (green line) with four
western branches and an underground section in Central Boston (actually
America's oldest subway opened in 1897). The three metro lines are underground
in the city centre but elevated or at grade in outer areas, partly using
former railway corridors. Like the Green Line, the Red Line crosses the
Charles River on a bridge (Longfellow Bridge) towards Cambridge (Harvard
University), whereas the Blue line dives under the Boston Harbor to the
Airport station (from where a shuttle bus links all the terminals) and
further east to Wonderland. From the Red Line's southern terminus at Ashmont,
a tram line continues to Mattapan. The subway is operated by MBTA (Massachusetts
Bay Transit Authority) and has a total length of 101.5 km:

01
Sept 1897: underground tram tunnel along Tremont street now still used
by the Green Line (Park St and Boylston stations)
03 Sept 1898: Park Street – Haymarket – portal to North Station12 Nov 2005:
Green Line relocated into new underground station at North Station

Shown on
maps like an extension of the Red Line, the Mattapan Line (built in 1929)
is similar to the Riverside branch of the Green Line and runs on a railway-type
alignment with some level crossings. Since 1985, it has been operated
with ex-Green Line PCC cars.

10
June 1901: elevated Orange Line sharing Tremont street tunnel (outer tracks)
(Sullivan Sq - Dudley St)
01 Sept 1908: Washington street tunnel for Orange Line (parallel to Tremont
street)
1975: Orange Line northern elevated structure demolished and put underground
to Community College and at grade to Wellington19 March 1979: Wellington - Oak Grove1983-1987: Orange Line relocation of southern section between Chinatown
and Forest Hills and demolition of original elevated structure
June 2004: new joint North Station for the Green Line and the Orange
Line allowing cross-platform transfer on inbound trains
02 Sept 2014: Assembly station added

In
spring 2000, the construction of the MBTA Silver Line began, this
is an innovative rubber-tired rapid transit service (i.e. a trolleybus)
which will ultimately link the Washington Street Corridor and the South
Boston Piers Transitway together providing a direct link to Logan Airport.
This new system consists of a reserved bus lane plus a 1-mile tunnel between
South Station and the piers with 3 underground stops.

Projects

After
platform lengthening concluded in 2009, on the Blue Line might be extended
north from Wonderland to Lynn along a disused rail alignment, and from
Bowdoin to Charles station to create a connection to the Red Line.

The Green
Line is currently being extended from Lechmere, its current northern
terminus, to West Medford via Somerville and Tufts University, alongside
the existing suburban rail right-of-way: 5.4 km (+ 1.4 km spur to Union
Sq) (Project
Website).